Smurf Village Imaginarium (Empath stories)
The Imaginarium in the EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf story series is a Smurf Village-based variant of the one featured in Homnibus' hovel. However, where his version only allowed its participants to see whatever they can imagine, the Smurf Village version creates actual realistic environments from whatever the participants can imagine. It is similar to holodeck technology found in the Star Trek series franchise of stories. The location of the Imaginarium was originally the cellar underneath the meeting house, when it was first constructed in "Virtual Smurfality". However, it is possible that another large-sized Smurf house was used instead of the meeting house for all future appearances of the Imaginarium. Settings The settings within the Imaginarium can be as realistic as the user desires them to be, although there are some physical limitations. Because the settings themselves are limited to the imagination of the user, there may be invisible walls or wraparound barriers that will exist in place to keep the user within the confines of the setting itself. Also, the characters within the setting may be designed to act in a specific way as to prevent the user from taking any shortcuts through the setting if the story within the setting is supposed to progress in a specific linear fashion. So far, the Imaginarium has created: * a beach front * the Smurf Village based on events in "King Smurf", with Brainy as King Smurf * a world of toys * a place where Clumsy mud-wrestles with a Wartmonger * the S.S. Smurf II sailing ship * the planet of the Swoofs as it appeared in "The Astro Smurf" * the Smurf Village on a cold winter's night, mostly for the sake of Papa Smurf having private time with a fantasy version of his wife Lillithina * a setting based on the Song Of Solomon from the Bible * a Nativity scene also based on the Bible * the Slime Bar in the swamp section of Pussywillow Hollow * the inside of Gargamel's castle * a forest picnic setting * various private encounters with Smurfette or a Smurfette * Psychelian Love Slave In "Empath's Wedding", the Imaginarium was used for modeling Smurfette's wedding dress from many possible designs, which simply required a mirror for her to stand before to see herself in the imagined dress. Use Of The Imaginarium Entering a fantasy world usually requires only one to imagine the type of environment he or she wants to be in. To leave the fantasy world, the participant only needed to think about the exit, which is the Imaginarium's actual location in the Smurf Village. Sometimes a vocal command can be given to the Imaginarium crystals, which will either bring the person into the desired fantasy world or bring that person out of it. For more intricate tailor-made settings, the Imaginarium would allow the user to define specific elements of the setting such as location and architecture. When a person enters a fantasy world based in the Imaginarium, their physical forms do not appear in the room, but rather they are subsumed into the fantasy world created by the Imaginarium. In later times, the Imaginarium would interrupt the current fantasy being played out and eject the user back into the real world in case of danger. Features Of The Imaginarium (This was taken from the Operator's Instruction Manual on the Vic George's Imaginarium website, with some additions.) Changing The Environment: Don't like the conditions that exist in your Imaginarium fantasy environment? The weather too hot or too cold? Not enough sunlight or just too much of it? Wrong time of day? The ground not soft enough for you? Too much noise or too little noise? Just simply imagine what it is you would like to change, and the Imaginarium changes the elements accordingly. Changing Wardrobe: Forgot to bring a swimsmurf to the beach? Or do your clothes smurf out of place in your fantasy? The Imaginarium can change your clothes right on the smurf. Just imagine what it is you wish to wear, and the Imaginarium smurfs the changes. Add or Erase Characters: You can add or erase Imaginarium-created characters any time you wish inside your fantasy environment. This feature is particularly useful when smurfing game- or adventure-type fantasies, allowing you to control the level of difficulty. Safety Features: Do you like to play it safe and smurfy like Scaredy or are you willing to smurf for broke and risk bodily harm to yoursmurf like Tuffy? You can control the safety features inside your fantasy environment, smurfing them on or off at any time simply by imagining. This feature is particularly useful when smurfing game- or adventure-type fantasies, allowing you to control the level of difficulty. (But be careful when doing so -- you may risk a fatal injury!) Skill Level Adjustments: In game- or adventure-type fantasies with opponent characters, you can adjust how skilled they are with a simple thought at any time. Try smurfing how far you can get to the village when outsmurfing an Imaginarium-created Gargamel or Azrael at various skill levels from novice to totally-smurfed-off! Random Elements: Do you like surprises -- besides Jokey's usual exploding giftboxes? The Imaginarium can provide consmurfly-changing elements to appear in your fantasy environment with a single thought. This feature is particularly useful when smurfing game- or adventure-type fantasies, allowing you to control the level of difficulty. Save Positions: Do you need to smurf a break from your fantasy, or do you have to smurf care of a village-wide emergency that happens every so often? You can let the Imaginarium stop the fantasy at any point and then resume it at a later time. Even if do you forget, the Imaginarium will remember where it is in your environment that you last smurfed. You can also smurf up "save position" markers as you go, and even revisit earlier "save positions", which is particularly useful in game- and adventure-type fantasies where you might want to smurf better in places where you could improve your skill and chances. Pause Action: To stop a story, a game, or an adventure in mid-action, just summon the Imaginarium to pause or freeze, and all characters and movements in that particular fantasy will pause, not continuing any action until you summon the Imaginarium to continue. Enter Another Smurf's Fantasy: Whether you're invited by another Smurf to join him in his fantasy environment or you need to call upon that Smurf for something important, you can enter that Smurf's fantasy at any time. Just think of that particular Smurf and the Imaginarium will smurf you into his/her fantasy environment instantly. Privacy Feature: If, however, you wish not to be interrupted in the middle of a fantasy environment, regardless of how intimate the setting might smurf (and for those smurfing out on a date with Smurfette, we know how important privacy is!), you can activate the Imaginarium's privacy feature so that no Smurf (except for Papa Smurf or Empath) can enter your fantasy environment without permission just with a simple thought. The Imaginarium, however, will let you know who's in the room smurfing for you when you're in your fantasy environment, as it will also let you know that another Smurf is smurfing the privacy feature if you wish to contact him/her. Persona Changing: Perhaps you wish to be a Smurf character that you are a little too big or a little too small to portray in your fantasy. No problem with that -- the Imaginarium will allow you to "alter your physical persona" by scaling elements in the fantasy to the same physical level as you, which means that things will appear to "grow up" or "grow down". Of course, if another Smurf of a different height is in the same fantasy environment as you, that other Smurf will only see this "persona change" as a physical illusion of you becoming bigger or smaller. Unfortunately, you can't change from a male Smurf to a female Smurf (or vice versa) with this feature. Observation Mode: A mode different from Participation Mode (default setting unless specifically chosen), usually smurfed in stories or recreations of past events, where the Imaginarium player simply observes the action smurfing on without any interaction with the characters in the story; any characters present will simply ignore you, and any objects or structures within that fantasy become phantoms that you can smurf through, although the "invisible wall" effect is still in place. You can switch between Observation and Participation Modes at any time if you so desire. Age Restriction And Content Warning: Suppose you have created an Imaginarium fantasy setting that has elements in it that you may think would be too unsmurfy for young Smurflings to partake in? No problem there -- an age restriction and content warning can be added to your fantasy setting to prevent it from being accessed by anybody except those who are old enough to handle it. Any who attempt to bypass the restriction will simply be banned from using the Imaginarium for at least one day. Soundtrack: You can have the Imaginarium play whatever type of soundtrack fits the mood of your Imaginarium setting, either from a selection of songs already recorded into the crystals' memory or by recording the music yourself prior to starting the setting. As with ambient sound effects, the soundtrack volume level can be adjusted to your particular liking for the setting. Warnings (This was taken from the Operator's Instruction Manual on the Vic George's Imaginarium website.) The Imaginarium is capable of prosmurfing very real fantasy environments that can be confused with reality. Side effects associated with things that may also exist in reality can potentially happen in the Imaginarium, as can various physical injuries when the safety feature is smurfed off. Papa Smurf recommends any Smurf to take frequent breaks from the Imaginarium whenever possible, and to smurf him or Empath as soon as possible for treating any physical injuries or prolonged reosmurfing side effects. Imaginarium fantasy environments can be as big as you imagine them to be, but there are specific "boundaries" that appear in every fantasy environment. Boundaries can either be a simple solid "invisible wall" that bounces you away or just a "smurfaround effect" which causes you to smurf around in a complete circle within your fantasy environment. A variation of the "smurfaround effect" in places such as the beach setting allow you to smurf in a straight line back the same way you came. (An "invisible ceiling" can appear if you're smurfing out a flying-type fantasy.) If you don't define exactly how you wish your environment to be as far as physical space smurfs, the Imaginarium will use the "invisible wall" as the default boundary. Objects including food and any animal or Smurflike characters that are smurfed up in the Imaginarium cannot be smurfed out of the Imaginarium with you when you leave your fantasy environment because it would simply vanish in reality. Any food you eat that is created in the Imaginarium will not contain any nutritional smurfplements that real food does, nor will it smurf any side effects associated with eating real food! Clothing created in the Imaginarium will disappear when you leave your fantasy environment, so be careful not to remove your real clothing, or if you do, make sure you smurf back into your real clothing before you leave. Due to the nature of the crystals used in smurfing the Imaginarium, it cannot be used to smurf reality to more than one fantasy environment at a time, since this can cause a power overload in the crystals that could destroy them and trap any Smurf currently using the Imaginarium inside the shards. The last time this has happened, every Smurf except for Empath, Smurfette, and the Smurflings found themsmurfs trapped inside their own fantasy environments, unable to smurf out of there until Empath smurfed his mindlinking ability to get every Smurf out of the Imaginarium before the crystals had shattered. (Fortunately, Handy and Miner managed to smurf some special crystals that act as buffers to prevent any further entrapments, but out of courtesy for other Smurfs who wish to continue using the Imaginarium, Papa Smurf suggests that only one Imaginarium fantasy should be active at a time!) Using the Imaginarium during work or study hours is prohibited by Papa Smurf, unless it is for educational purposes or for recreating events in legal disputes between two conflicting parties. Any Smurf who is found using the Imaginarium for recreational purposes during work or study hours will be temporarily restricted from using the Imaginarium, because Papa Smurf says so. Overall warning: be careful of what you imagine, because you just might get it! History Of Its Use The Imaginarium was developed by Handy as a means for the Smurfs to have a private getaway from the Smurf Village after the failure of Smurf Paradise, which only lasted about a month or so. Apparently Papa Smurf liked the idea so much, having had firsthand experience with Homnibus' Imaginarium, that he gave Handy permission to start setting one up. When it was first created, the Imaginarium's crystals overloaded when too many Smurfs went off into their own fantasy settings at the same time, requiring Empath and his mindlinking ability to get them out of there before the crystals shattered. Eventually, Handy had installed buffer crystals that prevented more than one fantasy to be active at the same time when the Imaginarium is being used. Grandpa Smurf personally dislikes the Imaginarium, believing that it has robbed his grand-Smurfs of their imagination. He prefers going on his own adventures in the real world, which to him provide him with more than enough excitement and imagination. Occasionally Empath's fellow Smurfs would prefer using their own imaginations when Narrator tells his stories, with Empath serving as a telepathic link between Narrator and his fellow Smurfs when conveying accurate details. The proliferation of adult-oriented fantasy settings, referred to as pornography by more sensible and modest-minded Smurfs, has led to the creation of having content warnings included to prevent Smurfs less than 100 years of age from accessing them. The technology of the Imaginarium is also used in the creation of the HoloSmurf, which allows an Imaginarium-created object or person to exist in a real-world setting. Years after the Smurf Village was destroyed, a very old Empath Smurf was able to create environments similar to those of the Imaginarium by using his mental abilities. Mirror Universe It is unknown whether there is an Imaginarium in the Mirror Universe's version of the Smurf Village. Voice Actor The voice for the Smurf Village Imaginarium would be provided by AT&T Natural Voices. See Also * Smurf Village Imaginarium (Hero Stories), for the version that appears in A Heroic Smurf's stories. * Smurf Village Imaginarium (LD Stories), for the version that appears in Numbuh 404's stories. Category:Locations Category:Handy's inventions Category:Technology Category:Smurf Village locations Category:Empath the Luckiest Smurf locations Category:Empath the Luckiest Smurf inventions Category:Recreational activities Category:Therapies Category:Entertainments Category:VicGeorge2K9's articles Category:Recreational locations Category:Artificial reality generators Category:Thoughts-into-reality creation methods Category:Addictive activities Category:Honeymoon locations